Chapter 78: Honor? No! This is a disgrace!
There is an old saying—the joys and sorrows of others are not interconnected; I only find them noisy.
The exact same logic applied to Digimon.
To Megadramon, Monodramon, and the rest of the monstrous vanguard, being personally shielded by Mizuki, their Great King, was the pinnacle of glory. They puffed their chests, basking in the protective aura of their master.
But for BlackGatomon and Greymon, standing in the aftermath of that same protection felt like a public execution.
Yes, they were grateful for Mizuki's intervention. He had saved them from a brutal ambush.
But beneath that gratitude boiled a suffocating, burning humiliation.
They had practically beaten their chests, boasting about how they would force Great King Mizuki to look at them in a new light. They were supposed to be his elite swords, his unstoppable vanguard.
And the result?
They had barely scratched the surface of the enemy forces before requiring their master to step in and save their hides.
Did this not make them entirely useless? Were they no different from the pathetic trash scavenging in the wastelands?
This kind of weakness... this utter lack of capability... they absolutely refused to accept it!
'We are better than this,' the shared thought seemed to echo between them.
Greymon's massive jaw clenched, thick plumes of smoke venting from his nostrils. Beside him, BlackGatomon's claws unsheathed with a sharp, metallic scrape, her feline eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
Without another word of hesitation, the two Digimon launched themselves forward, tearing straight into the snarling pack of Dobermon!
"Great King Mizuki, that was merely a momentary lapse!" Greymon's guttural roar shook the cavern walls.
"We swear upon our data, we absolutely will not disappoint you again!" BlackGatomon shrieked, her lithe form blurring into a black streak.
"Hey, wait, you two—"
Mizuki stood frozen, his hand still half-extended toward the space they had just occupied. He blinked, watching the backs of the two howling combatants charge into the fray.
Why did they suddenly explode with such desperate intensity?
And why did they look exactly like defeated female knights from those trashy fantasy games, practically radiating a bizarre aura of humiliated determination?
Did his simple act of protecting them somehow shatter their fragile egos?
'I haven't been psychologically manipulating them, have I?'Mizuki thought, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.'Why do I suddenly feel like one of those toxic corporate bosses who gaslights their employees into working unpaid overtime?'
Just as Mizuki stood there, utterly baffled by the sudden shift in morale, Belle stepped up beside him.
"It is probably because Mizuki is a very gentle person," she said softly, her voice carrying a quiet certainty.
Mizuki let out a long, exhausted sigh, reaching down to affectionately ruffle Belle's hair. "How does any of this relate to gentleness? This isn't some heartwarming slice-of-life anime..."
Before he could finish his complaint, the rest of the Digimon army snapped out of their awe. Seeing Greymon and BlackGatomon tearing into the enemy lines with suicidal fervor, the surrounding troops felt their own battle-lust ignite.
"Fight for Great King Mizuki!"
"Long live Great King Mizuki!"
"Great King Mizuki, please witness our absolute victory!"
"Awoooo!"
Mizuki: "..."
Hearing the fanatical, overlapping cries of his title echoing through the ruins, the muscles in Mizuki's cheek began to twitch uncontrollably.
Leaving Mizuki to his internal crisis, the vanguard had already clashed violently with the corrupted enemy forces.
Greymon grabbed a lunging Dobermon by the throat with one massive hand, slamming the beast brutally into the stone floor. The impact cracked the ancient tiles, sending a shockwave of dust into the air.
"Greymon, keep your distance! Avoid close combat!" BlackGatomon's sharp voice cut through the din of battle.
"Why?" Greymon grunted, crushing the struggling hound beneath his foot.
"Haven't you noticed?" BlackGatomon flipped backward, narrowly evading a set of snapping jaws before retaliating with blinding speed. "The energy radiating off these mutts is completely unnatural."
"Lightning Paw!"
Her fists became a blur of dark energy, striking the Dobermon with pinpoint accuracy.
"I suspect these creatures are actually the Tyrannomon that were stationed inside this pyramid," she explained, her eyes darting across the chaotic skirmish. "They must have been exposed to some foreign data source. It forced them to Digivolve, but the process shattered their minds, turning them into these feral husks."
She landed gracefully on a crumbling pillar, her tail lashing. "Even though you are a Vaccine-type Digimon, Greymon, and naturally hold an advantage over Virus-types, prolonged exposure to whatever corrupted them might infect your core code as well."
"Dark Lightning Paw!"
Finishing her warning, BlackGatomon twisted mid-air, driving a devastating punch into the skull of another Dobermon attempting to ambush her from the shadows. The beast was sent skidding violently across the dirt.
"Is that so..." Greymon muttered. He watched BlackGatomon dance through the horde, then slowly lowered his gaze to his own massive claws.
Just as the feline Digimon had warned, the brief physical contact was already taking a toll. The thick, orange-yellow scales along his knuckles were beginning to corrode, taking on a sickly, bruised blue hue. The foreign virus was trying to rewrite his data.
His eyes narrowed. His jaw locked.
"I will not back down over something as pathetic as this!"
A deafening, earth-shaking roar erupted from Greymon's throat. He drew in a massive breath, his chest expanding before he unleashed a torrent of blistering hellfire. The sheer heat forced the encroaching Dobermon back, their fur singing. Without missing a beat, he spun his massive bulk, his heavy tail crashing into a group of enemies trying to flank him, sending them flying like broken toys.
"BlackGatomon, do you remember the vow we made?" Greymon bellowed, his pupils bleeding into a terrifying, glowing scarlet. "For Lord Mizuki, we would not hesitate to throw ourselves into the deepest pits of hell!"
BlackGatomon froze. She stared at the towering dinosaur, taking in the faint, manic glow of his eyes and the absolute conviction in his voice.
Slowly, a sharp, almost feral smile spread across her face.
"Heh. I take back what I said about you being an annoying brute," she purred, her claws sparking with dark electricity. "You are far more entertaining than I gave you credit for!"
"Hahaha! The feeling is mutual!" Greymon roared back, charging headlong back into the fray.
As the two ripped through the enemy ranks, the heavy thud of footsteps and the beating of massive wings signaled the arrival of the rest of the army. Megadramon, Monodramon, and the other allied Digimon flooded into the cavern.
Seeing the sheer brutality and skill displayed by Greymon and BlackGatomon, the reinforcements felt their own digital cores burn with adrenaline.
"Such fighting spirit! Incredible!"
"Greymon, leave the flanks to me!"
"Big Sister BlackGatomon, the cavalry has arrived!"
Amidst the surging tide of allies, two specific Dobermon—the ones who had evolved from Mizuki's faction of Tyrannomon—broke through the lines, leading a fresh squad of Agumon and Tyrannomon.
"You two idiots..."
BlackGatomon sliced through an enemy's chest, landing lightly on her feet. Even though Mizuki had already informed her that these two were on their way, seeing them in person still made her fur bristle with irritation.
"How could you let Great King Mizuki wander into such a dangerous place unsupervised?!" she snapped, her voice dripping with venom.
"We didn't know!" one of the Dobermon stammered, instinctively shrinking his neck under her terrifying glare. "Great King Mizuki slipped away while we were patrolling the perimeter!"
The second Dobermon suddenly widened his eyes, remembering his primary directive. "Wait! Big Sister BlackGatomon, there is critical intel we need to report!"
He dodged a stray blast of fire, shouting over the noise of the battle. "According to Lord Mizuki, there is a second Ultimate-level Digimon hidden inside this pyramid alongside Etemon!"
"What?!"
BlackGatomon's pupils constricted into tiny pinpricks.
Suddenly, the puzzle pieces snapped together. The bizarre, forced Digivolution of the pyramid's Tyrannomon guards. The mindless, feral frenzy. The strange, corrosive virus eating away at Greymon's scales.
This was not a natural mutation. This was the deliberate, calculated work of an Ultimate-level mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows!
The very second that realization clicked into place, the air shifted.
From the absolute darkest corner of her blind spot, several compact, high-velocity miniature missiles launched through the air, screaming directly toward her vital points!
"Plug Bomb!"
Standing on the elevated ridge overlooking the battlefield, Mizuki's eyes tracked the incoming projectiles. His hand snapped up, Digisoul flaring to life as he prepared to manifest a barrier over BlackGatomon.
But before he could unleash the energy, a small hand gently grasped his wrist.
"Belle?" Mizuki glanced down, surprised.
"Mizuki, do not worry. She will be fine," Belle said. Her young face held a calm, unwavering smile as she looked up at him.
"I cannot quite explain how I know this," she continued, her gaze shifting back to the battlefield, "but... if it is her, she will handle it."
Mizuki studied Belle's confident expression for a split second. The Digisoul humming in his palm slowly dissipated.
"Is that so..." he murmured, lowering his hand and placing his absolute trust in his partner's intuition.
Down in the ruins, the scene played out exactly as Belle had predicted.
Just as the miniature missiles were about to pierce her flesh, BlackGatomon's instincts screamed. She violently twisted her lithe body mid-air, contorting at an impossible angle. The explosives whizzed past her fur, detonating harmlessly against the stone floor in a shower of sparks and smoke.
Landing in a low crouch, BlackGatomon bared her fangs, her eyes locking onto the shadows.
"Did you honestly believe I would make the mistake of being careless a second time?" she hissed, her voice dripping with lethal intent.
Under the crushing weight of her glare, the horde of frenzied Dobermon slowly parted.
From the darkness, a small, mechanical Digimon hovered into the dim light. His body was encased in a glass dome, a tangle of wires and circuits pulsing with a sinister, calculated glow.
This was the hidden mastermind the Dobermon had warned them about.
The Ultimate-level machine.
Datamon.
"..."
Datamon did not speak. He did not even acknowledge BlackGatomon's lethal glare.
Instead, the mechanical Digimon's cold, unblinking optical sensors bypassed the entire battlefield, locking onto a single figure standing on the distant ridge.
From the very beginning, his gaze was fixed entirely on Mizuki.
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